is cavalli ehha1 a good complement for this headphone? i am now choosing between a better amp or a better source. I don't know which one will have more impact on the overall sq.

ZOMFG Cavallie EEHA! That is a great amp. Is one on the fs forums?!
 
Yes, that amp is good for anything. It's prolly top 1 or 2 DIY designs. It. Is. Nice. It's basically the next level of my miniMAX. Sound wise it is incredible. Is one for sale? I'd like to own one.

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firgoe said:

is cavalli ehha1 a good complement for this headphone? i am now choosing between a better amp or a better source. I don't know which one will have more impact on the overall sq.

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The EHHA is a superb option for orthos ( any headphone for that matter ) it has the voltage swing and current capability to drive them well.
 
 

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hennyo said:

 It's basically the next level of my miniMAX. 

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Technically this is a common misconception. It is a hybrid but that is where similarities to any of the hybrids end , max, minimax, soha , starving student etc. Most hybrids use the tube for voltage gain and an output buffer of sorts to buffer the current requirement. Embedded Hybrid HA is just that , the tube is embedded into the circuit, the reason this amp sounds as good as it does is that it is a direct coupled amp with huge power reserves - you can probably swing 25W easily out of the circuit if you beef up the necessary heatsinks and power supply. I am by no means making a comparison to the max or other hybrid just pointing out why it is not just another hybrid. The sound is what it is to the listener. 
 
..dB
 
 

Technically this is a common misconception. It is a hybrid but that is where similarities to any of the hybrids end , max, minimax, soha , starving student etc. Most hybrids use the tube for voltage gain and an output buffer of sorts to buffer the current requirement. Embedded Hybrid HA is just that , the tube is embedded into the circuit, the reason this amp sounds as good as it does is that it is a direct coupled amp with huge power reserves - you can probably swing 25W easily out of the circuit if you beef up the necessary heatsinks and power supply. I am by no means making a comparison to the max or other hybrid just pointing out why it is not just another hybrid. The sound is what it is to the listener. 

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Ahh, sorry, those were just my impressions... I was just quoted this by jkjdjake.. He has both and he basically described it (paraphrased) as such. I've heard every Cavalli design accept Liquid fire/god/Ehha. Heard the rest..  Bijou was nice.
 
Back to T50. Any new mods?

rawrster said:

so stax pads have been bought by another head-fi member. it was a bit less than new but probably 2 weeks or so since international package. Hopefully it is as good as flysweep has been saying it is..

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Happy you took the plunge, rawrster.  Now would be a good time for the customary, "sorry about your wallet" quip.  I'm very confident you'll be as pleased with them as much as I am.  A few days ago, I had worn the T50RP w/ O2 pads for five hours straight, listening into the wee hours of the night..even after I took them off to hit the sack, it felt as if I had nothing on my head/ears that night.  A lot of people have modded headbands on their T50RP to increase comfort with other pads.  I find this completely unnecessary with the O2 pads.
 
Believe it or not, I was able to pry the T50RP off my head for an extended period of time & didn't listen to them all day yesterday.  Just as I picked them up moments ago, I felt the O2 pads silently shame me for staying away (I'm sorry baby, I'll never leave you again.. LOL).  Yes, I've devolved into apologizing to some inanimate pads on an internet forum.  As pathetic as it might sound, it's really a compliment to the O2 pads.  Sliding them on * listening to some really awesome music LFF had passed onto me, it feels like there's a live concert going on in my head.  Spatial positioning & soundstage cannot be raved enough with the O2 pads.  Worth. Every. Penny.

sorry for your wallet many many purchases ago
 
FlySweep, the pads easily go on without that double sided tape right? i would like to remove it since the first time I took off the stock pads some of it ripped a bit

I'd just like to take a moment to thank Questhate for being so generous with his acoustic foam.  Received mine today and will hopefully get around to using it tonight .

rawrster said:

sorry for your wallet many many purchases ago
 
FlySweep, the pads easily go on without that double sided tape right? i would like to remove it since the first time I took off the stock pads some of it ripped a bit

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Absolutely.  No tape or anything needed.  They slide on in the same manner as the stock pads & do not shift whatsoever with use.  The same amount (if not less) of tugging & pulling around the edges to shimmy on the O2 is required.  After they're on, you can rotate the pads so the "fatter" part of the pads are positioned correctly behind your ear.  Once situated, they will not shift around thanks to the resistance required to move them.
 
These pads seem custom tailored for the T50RP considering the ease in which they slide on, their perfect depth and dimensions, and how perfectly they can be adjusted for personal comfort.  BTW, these are the most comfortable headphones I've ever worn.. easily besting the HD800/600/650/598 & even the 003.
 
Listening to Electric Wire Hustle now with the T50RP & O2: BLISS.  

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rawrster said:

so stax pads have been bought by another head-fi member. it was a bit less than new but probably 2 weeks or so since international package. Hopefully it is as good as flysweep has been saying it is..

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Good deal rawster, looking forward to your impreesions. I'm thinking about ordering a pair too.
 

 
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sharkz said:

These headphones have really convinced me what Orthos can do, even cheap ones. I might need to join the dark side and get some vintage Orthos.
 
Unrelated, there are now Ortho Ninjas, a Stax Mafia, what's next Dynamic Samurais? Or would it skip to Knights of the Dynamic Headphone Brotherhood?

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Grado Knights who say Ni
 

I think I need to be happy with my 840 pads for now. I would need to hear another persons pair with the O2 pads in order to make that giant leap. I was annoyed enough to pay $40 for a pair of Grado flats, but I heard the difference it made on my own set before I bought them. Plus I did just buy a CTH and new DAC within the past month. It has been a great month though.

The O2 pads actually make t50rp look better.
 
I just saw the thunderpants review on head-fi tv. the guy said that although thunderpants are very nice headphone, it's still not as good as other orthos like LCD-2. i am wandering how come LFF said that this is an end-game type headphone. I am hoping someone could write a more detail comparison between modded t50rp, thunderpants, HD650, LCD-2 or other popular headphones.

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firgoe said:

The O2 pads actually make t50rp look better.
 
I just saw the thunderpants review on head-fi tv. the guy said that although thunderpants are very nice headphone, it's still not as good as other orthos like LCD-2. i am wandering how come LFF said that this is an end-game type headphone. I am hoping someone could write a more detail comparison between modded t50rp, thunderpants, HD650, LCD-2 or other popular headphones.

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My Paradox headphones don't sound like Thunderpants.
 
To me, they are an endgame headphone because of how linear they sound. The extension, depth, detail and overall sound quality is perfect for me.
 

LFF's aren't thunderpants. Also LFF said his mods were the end-game for him. I've heard and measured LFF's T50RPs and preferred them to LCD2s for several reasons:
 

• The modded T50RPs had more linear FR whereas the LCD2 had a big suck-out region (from midrange to lower treble). People tend to not complain about this because suck-outs are less easily heard than peaks. But for me, it's serious omission that's unacceptable. I assume that for LFF, it would be similar because of his mastering work. I build speakers as a hobby. So it's probable that LFF and my ears are "trained" to hear this.
• I don't know what it is with the LCD2, but the bass is inconsistent. On some tracks, it's present and muscular, on others, it's kind of limp and missing. Advocates of the LCD2 say that's because of the flat frequency response which lacks a mid-bass hump. Maybe I just don't like "audiophile" bass. But then again, I don't hear this effect on other headphones which lacked the mid-bass hump such as the STAX lambdas. 
• The LCD2 have a spot that rings anywhere from 7 to 10kHz. There seems to be a lot of variance from sample to sample, so it's hard to say where. Most people don't notice this. A few people do. The modded T50s had a peak at 10kHz, but it doesn't ring, so it was tolerable for me.
• If there's one word to sum up the above, it would be "incoherent". The LCD2 sounds great with some select material, but mediocre with most others. Advocates of the LCD2 say it sounds "natural". I think it sounds "forgiving" and "pleasant" which to me is not "natural". Snare drums, cymbal crashes, violins, and trumpets do not always sound forgiving or pleasant in real life. When it comes down to it, I didn't find the LCD2 to do anything better than the modded T50RP except that it was more open sounding in the low to middle midrange.

 
I only wrote this because I had notes handy from a PM I sent someone... So no more detailed comparisons from me.
 
 

Well, well, well.... After screwing my first pair that I bought two years ago (or that's what I think I did, must check them in the future) I´m almost done with my 2.0 version of the T50RP. The only things that I need to try is the naked driver and covering it with organdi, as bluemonkey recommends, and experimenting with the bass vent opening.
 
The reflex dot is like a miracle, I'm astonished.... Never thought that such small thing would make those improvements to the sound.
 
The detail and extension of these headphones is unbelieveable. The sub-bass is there without intoxicating the other frequencies, tight, fast and controlled. The mids are just in the right presence, without being like a slap in your cheeks and the trebles are very balanced, without any sibilance. Also the soundstage is totally 3D.
 
Next month I will buy the 02 pads to finish them.

Quote:

purrin said:

LFF's aren't thunderpants. Also LFF said his mods were the end-game for him. I've heard and measured LFF's T50RPs and preferred them to LCD2s for several reasons:
 

• The modded T50RPs had more linear FR whereas the LCD2 had a big suck-out region (from midrange to lower treble). People tend to not complain about this because suck-outs are less easily heard than peaks. But for me, it's serious omission that's unacceptable. I assume that for LFF, it would be similar because of his mastering work. I build speakers as a hobby. So it's probable that LFF and my ears are "trained" to hear this.
• I don't know what it is with the LCD2, but the bass is inconsistent. On some tracks, it's present and muscular, on others, it's kind of limp and missing. Advocates of the LCD2 say that's because of the flat frequency response which lacks a mid-bass hump. Maybe I just don't like "audiophile" bass. But then again, I don't hear this effect on other headphones which lacked the mid-bass hump such as the STAX lambdas. 
• The LCD2 have a spot that rings anywhere from 7 to 10kHz. There seems to be a lot of variance from sample to sample, so it's hard to say where. Most people don't notice this. A few people do. The modded T50s had a peak at 10kHz, but it doesn't ring, so it was tolerable for me.
• If there's one word to sum up the above, it would be "incoherent". The LCD2 sounds great with some select material, but mediocre with most others. Advocates of the LCD2 say it sounds "natural". I think it sounds "forgiving" and "pleasant" which to me is not "natural". Snare drums, cymbal crashes, violins, and trumpets do not always sound forgiving or pleasant in real life. When it comes down to it, I didn't find the LCD2 to do anything better than the modded T50RP except that it was more open sounding in the low to middle midrange.

 
I only wrote this because I had notes handy from a PM I sent someone... So no more detailed comparisons from me.
 
 

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I agree with this post.
 
These are "endgame" for me. I don't expect them to be for everyone else as not all people like my kind of sound signature preference and that's fine. When Purrin heard them for the first time he commented how they sounded like my sound signature preference. Some people might prefer a brighter headphone like the HE-6 or others might prefer a darker one like the HD-650. That's perfectly fine and acceptable as we should aim for what pleases our ears. The 10kHz peak in my headphones FR response isn't really noticeable either as I am extremely picky with that region of sound because that is where hiss and noise usually live and a boost there means boosted hiss/noise but oddly enough, I get none of that. At the end of the day I find my mod'd T50RP's to sound very neutral/natural. They aren't forgiving and show things "as is" - which for me is awesome and for others, might be a curse.
 
Also...keep in mind that my headphones are sealed. All of the other commercial orthos are open in design. When playing music through my orthos, you can't hear much from the outside and people can't really hear what you are listening to unless you turn up the music to a high volume level.
 
My current temporary set-up:
 
FLAC -> Mystify 2702DAC -> Apex Arete w. Volcano power supply -> Paradox Headphones